I felt that if much of it was seen through the eyes of someone unfamiliar with that world, it made everything a little more accessible. Well, it felt pretty audacious to be writing about Appalachia, even with research. Why did you choose to include a British character in this very American novel? The protagonist in THE GIVER OF STARS, Alice, is a British woman who moves to Kentucky after marrying an American man. Without knowledge, people have fewer opportunities to move upwards.Ĥ. Libraries are one of the few resources where people can be sheltered, educated and entertained without having to pay, and it pains me that they are under such threat. My parents didn’t have much money when I was growing up so the weekly visit to the local library was a key part of my education, and my love of reading. Libraries play a key role in THE GIVER OF STARS, and keen readers will notice you often include a library in your novels. I visited Kentucky three times between 20 and stayed in a tiny cabin on the side of a mountain, rode horses along the trails the women would have ridden, and talked to a lot of people, to try and get not just the facts, but the rhythms of the language.ģ. I need the sights and smells and stories.

I don’t believe you can write effectively about a place without immersing yourself in it. Fans who follow you on social media might have tracked your trip to Kentucky to research THE GIVER OF STARS. I read the accompanying text, about the real-life horseback librarians of Kentucky, and knew immediately that I wanted to write a book about them.Ģ.

They were on rough, mountainous terrain, clutching parcels of books, gazing out proudly. I was reading an edition of the Smithsonian Magazine online and came across an extraordinary series of pictures of women on horseback. How did you discover this piece of history? THE GIVER OF STARS is based on the true story of the Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky.

The giver of stars